A/N wow its been-

*checks watch*

-a really long f*cking time since I updated, I'm so sorry.

I guess that's what happens when you rush into things and have no plotline at all-

Anyways, enjoy this long awaited chapter!

Theo POV

Although his freckled skin and curly, brown hair were beautiful, the main thing I remembered about him were his ocean green eyes. They were the most stunning eyes that I had ever seen, and I only got to glimpse them for a second before he lept off the rock into the water. I had watched where he jumped into the ocean for at least ten minutes, but he didn't resurface. He either swam away and surfaced somewhere else, or he had hit his head and drowned. I tried my best not to think about the second option.

"Your Highness!" I heard someone say. Turning around, I saw a group of palace guards running toward me across the sand. When they got to me, they picked me up and placed me on a stretcher.

"There's no need, I can walk just fine!" I protested, trying to get off the stretcher, but the guards held me down.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, you have just been in the freezing sea by yourself, there's quite a chance you have hypothermia," A woman said. "And walking won't be good for whatever injuries you have sustained."

"But I wasn't alone, someone rescued me and swam me to shore!" I tried to explain, but they all decided to ignore me, whispering something about me being delirious.

"There's no way someone could've swam that far out and rescued her, maybe her brain injuries are worse than we thought," a guard whispered.

"I don't have brain injuries!" I shouted, trying to lash out at the guards, but before I could, I felt a prick in my arm, and everything went dark.

***

"Where is my daughter!?" was the first thing I heard when I regained consciousness. I tried to open my eyes, but the room was too bright and there seemed to be some sort of light shining directly on my face.

"Dad?" I asked, my voice sounding a little bit croaky.

"Theodosia!" I heard him shout, and I felt him wrap his arms around me. My eyes finally adjusted to the light, and I saw that I was laying in the hospital wing. I couldn't remember why I was here, but I did remember one thing.

"Where is he?"

"Who?" Dad frowned.

"The boy that saved my life," I explained. My dad still looked confused, until a guard came up to him and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and dismissed the guard.

"Theo," he sighed.

"I know what you're going to say," I interrupted. " 'There was no boy, you have brain damage'. Well that's not true. There was a boy, and he swam me to shore and then jumped into the ocean and disappeared. I'm certain of it."

Dad's eyes widened just a fraction, before returning to normal. "People can't survive underwater, Theodosia, that's common knowledge! You were hallucinating!"

"But maybe he wasn't a per-"

"THEODOSIA!" Dad shouted. "THAT IS ENOUGH! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE OF YOUR RIDICULOUS THEORIES! YOU WERE JUST IMAGINING THINGS!"

The room went deathly silent. Everyone was too scared to mutter a word. Breathing heavily, Dad turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" A nurse asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," I deadpanned, turning onto my side and closing my eyes, feeling teats prick at my eyes. Everyone seemed to get the hint and leave me alone, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

***

"Miss Theo?"

I groaned, and opened my eyes to see my best friend standing next to the bed.

"Hey, Liza," I muttered, rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?"

"8pm, you've been out for a while." she informed me. "Here's your supper, but it's pretty cold."

I took one look at the plain, cold soup and turned to Liza with pleading eyes.

"Can I please come to your place for dinner? Your dad's make the best food and I'm sure they won't mind!"

"But Miss Theo, you're healing, and you aren't supposed to leave the room!" she tried to reason with me, but I'd already stood up and donned my coat, which was next to the bed.

"C'mon, Liza, we can sneak out through the servant's passages, it'll be just like old times!" I grinned, grabbing her arm and running out of the room. She let out a few cries of protest, but I saw her smile when she thought I wasn't looking. We found the nearest passage, and began our journey.

***

(a/n ik there's a lot of scene changes but I just want to get to a certain scene quicker)

When we reached Liza's place, which was just outside the palace walls, she knocked on the door.

"Dad, Papà, I'm home, and I brought a guest!" Liza shouted. The door opened, and I came face-to-face with one of my most favourite people in the world. The dark-skinned man had his long hair tied back into a ponytail, and he was wearing a pink 'Kiss The Cook' apron.

"Theodosia!" He exclaimed, his face breaking into a grin. (a/n idk if this sentence makes sense I'm writing this while watching a movie and I'm also sleep deprived) "It's so good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too, Uncle Laf!" I smiled as he pulled me into a hug. Laf wasn't actually my uncle, but him and his husband Hercules were basically like second fathers to me.

"Come in, come in, we've almost finished cooking," Laf said, walking back into the house that had been the place of so many of my childhood memories. Liza and I followed him through the house and into the dining room, where George was sitting at the table. It seemed, through Laf or Herc's 'father sense', that they knew I was coming, because the table was set for 5.

"Theo?" George frowned. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital wing?"

"Ne sois pas si grossier, Georges! (don't be so rude, Georges!)" Laf scolded. "She's our guest, and I can imagine why she wouldn't want to be stuck in that terrible room," he shuddered.

"Hey Theo!" Hercules shouted from the kitchen. He emerged carrying all 5 of our plates on his arms, causing him to get a scolding in French from his husband. When all of the plates were safely on the table, Herc walked over to me and pulled me into a crushing bear hug, ruffling my already messy hair. "We missed you!"

"Yeah, sorry about not coming over, life's just gotten pretty busy lately," I apologised sheepishly. We quickly eased into a conversation, and the food (which was a Sunday roast) was positively incredible. After we finished eating, Laf and Herc brought out a beautiful pink and green cake for dessert.

"This is delicious!" I said, my mouth full of cake.

"Of course it's delicious, I made it!" Herc joked. We laughed at his sense of humour and continued to eat the cake. Suddenly, Lafayette sighed.

"Theo, we've been avoiding this conversation all night, but I think it's time we brought it up." Laf said. "What happened on your birthday boat?"

My appetite disappeared as the words left his mouth. Even though I got out of the situation practically unscathed, I can still taste the salt water and hear the terrified screams of the girl that I had been unable to rescue.

"Didn't George or Liza tell you?" I frowned. "They were there too."

"They told us about the whole birthday cake fiasco, but they said it would be better if you tell us what happened when you fell in the water," Herc supplied.

I begun to tell them of my adventures earlier in the day. Laf had a pretty blank look on his face for most of the time, but it changed to a look of shock when I got up to the bit where I was rescued.

"Hold on, you're telling me that a boy found you in the middle of the ocean and took you to shore?" Laf frowned.

"That's what it looked like when I woke up and saw him," I nodded.

Herc and Laf exchanged a quick glance before turning back to me.

"And what did this boy look like?" Herc asked.

"He had long, curly brown hair and freckles, and his eyes were the most brilliant shade of green," I sighed, remembering his stunning appearance. I startled out of my daydream as there was a loud crash, and I looked to see that Laf had dropped his glass on the floor. His eyes held memories from his past as he shakily whispered a name.

"John..."

A/N I'm once again sorry this chapter took so long, please pester me to write the next one cause otherwise I'll forget about it-